


Observation

by kaitscribbles



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 04:04:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11050938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaitscribbles/pseuds/kaitscribbles
Summary: Army protocol applies in many useful ways.





	Observation

He's drunk, but not enough to throw caution to the wind. An officer must always gauge his conduct carefully, personal as well as professional. He remembers how they'd beaten that into his head at OCS. Although Lewis Nixon doubts his Fort Benning instructors meant that he should wait a discreet amount of time before following a higher-ranking British officer back to his quarters to get laid.

Doesn't matter. Army protocol applies in many useful ways.

So Lew is working contentedly on his flask, the warm burn in his stomach equally split between whiskey and anticipation, and he also must be drunker than he thought, because when Harry Welsh glances up and says casually, "Think you can find the Brit officer quarters in the dark, Lew?" he isn't ready for it, and he chokes and coughs and wastes a precious mouthful of VAT 69.

And Harry's smirking at him, the bastard.

If he were more sober, Lew thinks he might've tried to maintain his composure and bluff his way through it, but it's probably good that he can't. Harry's tipped back in his chair and the smug look on his face says it wouldn't have fooled him at all. But Harry must've listened to his OCS instructors too, because none of the other soldiers are within earshot.

He's laughing before he can stop himself, still coughing and wiping drops of whiskey off his chin. "Jesus, Harry. Give me a heart attack, why don't you?"

Harry switches immediately to a wide-eyed stare of drunken seriousness. "Oh, I wouldn't want that. What a blow to international relations."

Lew stares back for about two seconds before they're both roaring, pounding the table and wasting some of Harry's liquor now when he loses his grip on the bottle, drawing curious looks from the Red Devils and Easy soldiers who haven't already drunk themselves unconscious.

"I'm just following orders," Lew gasps. "Strayer did say all possible assistance."

"Allied warfare!" Harry yells, waving his bottle violently in the general direction of the entire room. When some of the men from Harry's platoon respond with cheers and raised glasses, Lew thinks he's never going to be able to stop laughing, and Harry actually has tears running down his face.

It takes them a good five minutes to wind down. Lew tries for deep breaths and then promptly ruins the effort by lighting a cigarette, which makes him cough again. "Harry, Harry," he says, knowing he's grinning like an idiot but unable to help it. "I had no idea you were so observant."

Harry manages to take another drink between hiccups of laughter. "Wasn't too difficult, you know."

"The things we do for our country." Lew spins the cap on his flask with practiced fingers, stretches, and pushes away from the table. "Thanks for the laugh."

"Captain Nixon reports as ordered, sir," Harry snickers into his bottle. He glances away, the picture of studied innocence, and then pokes his tongue delicately into his cheek, and it's all Lew can do to hold off another laughing fit as he walks a fairly straight line out of the room, because he's pretty damn sure he can still find the British officer quarters in the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted in the livejournal community **camp_toccoa** on 20 April 2005.


End file.
